







' s-^ 









Our Greek Immigrants 



BY 

Rev. Thomas J. Lacey, Ph. D. 

Rector of Church of The Redeemer, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Knight Commander of the Royal Order of 
George I of Greece. 



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OUR GREEK IMMIGRANTS 



Greeks are a comparatively recent addition to the 
complex stream of American life. In 1848 only one 
Greek arrived in New York. Ten years later there 
were two. At the close of the Civil War there were 
less than 100 Greeks in the United States. In 1886 
our Consul to Greece reported that there was no 
emigration from Greece. In 1900 the total number 
of Greeks amongst us was about equal to the num- 
ber that Xenophon led in his famous ''Anabasis." In 
a decade this number increased tenfold. In the 
single year 1914 we received 35,832. There are twice 
as many Greeks in America as there are in Athens. 

From ancient days the Greeks have been free, 
venturesome, seafaring men — bold colonizers whose 
'national epic was a story of cruise and maritime 
adventure. To this natural wanderlust there was 
added the economic motive in 1891, when the failure 
of the currant market struck at the heart of this 
national industry. That year registered an increase 
in the number of Greeks seeking fortunes in this 
new land. In contrast to the Hungarian, Polish and 
early German immigration, the Greek never left 
home on account of political oppression or religious 
persecution. 



Every section of Greece has contributed to the 
emigrant stream. The first immigrants were males. 
Married men came without their wives and children 
and found quarters together in lodging houses. 
Women began to arrive in 1905. Fixed tradition 
forbids their entrance into industry. They are never 
found in sweat shops. The lad supports his sister 
until she is settled in life. The women are excellent 
housewives and their houses are clean and comfort- 
able. They never enter domestic service outside 
their own families. This is true of the women of 
Southern Europe generally and lies at the root of 
our servant problem. Prior to 1890 the immigrants 
came from England, Ireland, Germany and Scandi- 
navia. From these sources our household servants 
were recruited. Now our immigrants are largely 
Italians Slavs, Hebrews and Greeks. None of these 
enter domestic service. 

When Greeks settle in a locality they organize a 
"community" made up of all Greeks in the district 
with officers, executive committee and financial obli- 
gations. Its first care is to make provision for re- 
ligious services. Daniels commends the Greek com- 
munity as the working model of a broadly demo- 
cratic plan of organization. Formed primarily for 
the establishment and maintenance of the church it 
functions as the representative voice of the colony. 
There are more than 100 of these communities in 
the United States. In Manhattan there are four 
with churches on E. 72nd St., W. 54th St., W. 24th 
St. and Cedar St. An additional one is being formed 



uptown. In Brooklyn there is one community. 
Greek stores are in evidence in Manhattan, in the 
vicinity of Madison and Pearl Streets and on 6th 
Avenue, in the neighborhood of 30th Street. 

The Greeks are w^ell represented all through the 
New England States, where there is scarcely any 
town that does not number some sons of Hellas 
amongst its inhabitants. In Lowell, Mass., the 
colony is concentrated in the vicinity of Market St., 
beginning at Button where the Hellenic character 
is very pronounced. With almost no exception the 
stores are Greek for several blocks. The foreign 
aspect of the neighborhood is intensified at Jeffer- 
son Street when we catch a glimpse of the gold dome 
of Holy Trinity Church which stands out in con- 
trast to the ramshackle building's about it. 

From the Atlantic seaboard Greeks have made 
their way into Pennsylvania ; thence into the Ohio 
valley. In Cincinnati, the old Franklin Bank on 
Third St. has been secured for a church — a singular- 
ly fitting arrangement, since the edifice is modelled 
after the Parthenon with a portico of Doric columns. 

The procession has moved westward to Chicago 
which has 3 communities. There is a large colony 
in the neighborhood of South Halsted St. It is not 
unusual on Good Friday to see the stores draped in 
purple and black, and at midnight a procession 
marches through the street carrying gleaming ta- 
pers. The workers of Hull House have met sym- 
pathetic response among the Hellenic population. 
The classic plays rendered by Greeks in their native 



6 

tongue are an interesting feature of the activities 
of this settlement. 

From Chicago, Greeks have scattered through the 
principal towns of the mid-west. The youth are 
among the patrons of the gymnasium and swim- 
ming pools at the Y. M. C. A. They are fond of 
wrestling and boxing. In Kansas City and Omaha 
athletic meets are arranged throughout the winter. 

Further westward the immigrant stream has 
flowed. In Wyoming Greeks are working in the 
mines at Sunrise. In Salt Lake City there is a pros- 
perous community. On the Pacific Coast they are 
well represented. A Greek bishop, catching a view 
of San Francisco bay for the first time, exclaimed 
with enthusiasm : ''Oh, this is just like our country !" 

The immigrant has invaded the Southern States. 
Strong settlements are found in Norfolk, Va., Bir- 
mingham, Ala., Charleston, S. C, Savannah and At- 
lanta, Ga., Jacksonville, Fla., and New Orleans, La. 
The New^ Orleans community was established as 
early as 1867 by Greek cotton merchants, and from 
its inception the minutes were kept in English. The 
most striking colony is at Tarpon Springs, Florida, 
where the life and customs of the homeland are 
closely reproduced. This is the world's largest 
sponge centre. The sponge divers are Greeks. The 
town has a large Greek population, representing 
every phase of activity. The Hellenic aspect is 
marked. Many signs along the principal street are 
in Greek characters, and the newspaper often carries 
a Greek page. So evenly is the Greek population 



distributed that a recent list of Red Cross contribu- 
tors published in a Greek newspaper represented 
nearly every State in the Union and contained the 
names of numerous towns, small, obscure, remote 
and unfamiliar. 

Thus the Greeks have ccmie into every section of 
our land. And back of the humblest, poorest Greek 
on our streets are racial traditions connected with 
the most splendid triumphs of the human mind in 
art, letters, philosophy, politics. Their language 
was the vehicle throuj.,di which the New Testament 
was given to the world and it is spoken today in 
America in a form that has undergone less change 
than our own English since the days ot Chaucer. 

Not only has the Greek found his way to every 
section of the country, but he has entered every in- 
dustry. If you smoke a cigarette, your "Turkish 
Trophies" bear the name "Anargyros," the Greek 
founder of the enterprise. Stephanos of Philadel- 
l)hia and Melachrinos of New York are well-known 
names in the tobacco industry. If you patronize the 
confectionery, you will likely find the sign **01ym- 
pia," ''Marathon" or "Athens,"' which betokens the 
Hellenic proprietor who in some places has gained 
a monopoly in spite of the fact that Plato places a 
ban on Athenian confections in his ideal Republic. 
The boot black parlors are largely in the hands of 
Greeks. The dusty streets of Athens have made the 
lad expert in this line. As far back as Aristophanes 
the dicast was on the lookout for a sponge and a 
basin of oil mixed with pitch for his dusty shoes. 



The "padrone" system has brought the Greek into 
unpleasant notoriety from time to time, when it has 
devehjped in connection with the shoe shining in- 
dustry. 

If you purchase a bouquet of flowers, you will 
find that the shop is owned by a Greek. A former 
mayor of New York became known as a patron of 
a Greek florist in Brooklyn whose fame and sales 
were thereby enhanced. 

The economic activities of American Greeks ex- 
tend to peddling, shoe shining, milling, mining, 
restaurant keeping, sponge diving, fruit vending, 
the florist and confectionery trades and even the 
moving picture industry. In Lowell, Mass., large 
numbers find employment in the mills. In Newport, 
R. I., they are engaged in lobster fishing. Bishop 
Peterkin once came upon a group working in rail- 
road construction in a remote county in West Vir- 
ginia. Furriers from Kastoria in Macedonia have 
introduced their trade into New York. They claim 
to have originated the piecing together of small 
skins to make a large piece. 

In economic life the strong elements of Hellenic 
character come to the fore — independence, self-re- 
liance, ambition. The new-comer stands ready to 
take the first job that ofl:"ers. As soon as he accu- 
mulates a little money he launches out in some en- 
terprise for himself. Prof. Ross ventures the asser- 
tion that every Greek in America is self-supporting. 
He is a shrewd business man and reproduces the 
energy and thrift of his ancestors. With true in- 



10 

sight Bikelas represents his hero, Loukes Laras, 
after many wanderings and vicissitudes, declaring 
himself fit for commerce only. The Greeks have a 
national genius for business. Given a chance, they 
excel as clever tradesmen. They long held the bal- 
ance of trade in the Ottoman empire. Homer un- 
consciously portrays the Hellenic instinct for keen 
bargaining when he represents the wily Diomede 
as suggesting to Glaucus an exchange of arms to 
seal their friendship, and forthwith he gives his 
bronze in return for the costly gold armor of the 
Trojan. 

The Greek brings to his new home a spirit of en- 
terprise. He is never found among the applicants 
for public dharity. His crimes are chiefly violations 
of corporation ordinances and the sanitary code. As 
he rises in the economic scale the percentage of 
crime declines. 

Irish and Scotch immigrants have been addicted 
to drunkenness. The Greeks are uniformly tem- 
perate. As a race they have always been abstemi- 
ous. No Greek hero in Homer ever gets drunk. 
Homeric Greeks drank wine well diluted with water. 
Sobriety is a national trait. The splendid health of 
the Greek soldier is due to his sobriety. Surgeons 
remarked the rapidity with which the soldiers re- 
cuperated during the Balkan Wars. 

The coffee house takes the place of the saloon or 
beer garden. This is a distinctively Hellenic insti- 
tution found all over the Near East and introduced 
into England in 1652 by Konopios, a Cretan. The 



11 

De Coverly papers mention the "Grecian Coffee 
House" in Devereux Court, kept by Constantine, a 
Greek who had a new and ])()puhir way of making 
coft'ee. 

The coffee house ])lays a big role in a neighbor- 
hood where Greeks have settled. At any hour you 
will find men sitting around small tables, sipping 
Turkish coft'ee, smoking cigarettes, piaymg cards, 
talking politics or poring over the Greek news- 
paper, which keeps them in touch with the affairs 
of Hellas. They are great readers of the papers. 
There are 20 Greek new^spapers published in the 
United States. The pursuit of politics is as engross- 
ing today as in classic times, Aristides Phoutrides 
says that at the University of Athens the most fre- 
quent greeting among the students is ''How is pol- 
itics today?" St. Paul describes the Athenians as 
spending their time in nothing else but either to tell 
or to hear some new thing, and Demosthenes repre- 
sents the people of Athens as walking about asking 
one another, 'Ts there any news?" The discussions 
of the ancient Greek democracy are vividly repro- 
duced in the coffee houses today. So intense was 
the feeling in regard to the last Greek election that 
"Venizelist" printers on a royalist publication in 
New York struck because a picture of the king ap- 
peared in the paper. Greeks, as a rule, rarely join 
a strike and are not usually connected with labor 
unions. Nothing short of a political issue could 
excite them. 

The weaker side of Hellenic character manifests 



12 

itself chiefly in factiousness and a love of ex- 
ploitation. The individualism so marked through- 
out their whole racial history is apparent today in 
jealousies, feuds, factions, rivalry of leadership 
and intestine quarreling in the communities, the 
churches and the press. Among Italians, crimes of 
violence are common, but with Greeks, the feuds 
exhaust themselves in mutual vituperation. Not 
only do the Greeks quarrel among themselves, but 
they exhibit strong national prejudice and do not 
work harmoniously with Roumanians, Bulgars or 
Slavs. 

The mill agents at Lowell complain of the fac- 
tiousness of their Greek employees who form small 
groups in constant altercation with one another. 

This spirit of clannishness is not however to be 
too hastily condemned. It has its roots in the past. 
The very word ''democracy'' is of Greek origin and 
signifies the rule of the people. The Greek has ever- 
been a lover of personal freedom. He was the 
world's first teacher in the ideals of liberty. In 
Athens democracy came to birth. The distinction 
of Athens in the Periclean Age is an extraordinary 
phenomenon. Athens was the home of the best 
ideals of Greece, where the Hellenic spirit expressed 
itself in political and social conditions that favored 
individual culture, versatility and personal ambi- 
tion. 

The Greeks have many organizations in America 
to perpetuate Hellenic culture, foster good citizen- 
ship and stimulate commercial activity. These cover 



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TiS wide a range as the Pan-Hellenic Union ; the 
Greek-American Athletic Club ; the Greek-American 
Boy Scouts ; the Greek-American Chamber ot <..om - 
merce in New London, Conn., and numerous socie- 
ties made up of compatriots, such as the Fan-Epi- 
rotes, Lacedaemonians and Dodecanesians. The seal 
of the latter society bears the head of Hippocrates 
of Cos, the father of medical science. 

The Greek Church holds a place of supreme im- 
portance in the life of the nation. Among no people 
is the identity of church and state more thoroughly 
rooted. Whatever seems even remotely to trespass 
on the former is regarded as treason to the latter. 
The content of religion has changed, but the mental 
attitude of classic times persists. In ancient Greece 
church and state were intimately allied. Religion 
and citizenship were identical. The mystical per- 
sonal aspect was subordinate to the social-political. 
The modern Greek is born to his religion as he is to 
his nationality, and no nation presents greater re- 
ligious homogeneity. 

The Church is inwrought in the history of Greece. 
Through centuries of Turkish domination the 
Church kept alive the spirit of nationality. Greece 
owes her existence today to her national Church, 
and When the hour of Hellenic freedom struck, the 
clergy led the people in the struggle for liberty. 
Archbishop Germanos of Patras raised the banner 
of freedom in 1821, planting the standards of liberty 
on the same rocks where the famous Achaian 
League was organized centuries before. 



14 

The Hellenic Church is part of the Eastern Or- 
thodox communion which includes the Patriarchates 
of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusa- 
lem ; the Cypriote and the Sinaitic churches and the 
national churches of the Russians, Serbs, Monte- 
negrins, Roumanians and Bulgarians. The Eastern 
Orthodox Communion is a confederation with no 
one head. Nationality is recognized as a controlling 
influence in ecclesiastical development. Men of di- 
verse races and nations, celebrating the liturgy in 
different languages, are one in the acceptance of the 
faith as defined by the seven ecumenical councils. 
The Latin ideal is monarchical — a government from 
one centre, obliterating national distinctions. The 
Eastern and Western Churches differ in spirit and 
point of view. Eastern theological thought is rooted 
in Greek philosophy. Western theology reflects the 
spirit of Roman law. 

The Greek liturgy is lengthy, rhetorical, awe-in- 
spiring. The Byzantine with its spacious dome is 
its native architecture. The ornamentation is bright 
with blue and vermilion. The churches are built 
toward the east. There is no instrumental music, 
and in the solemn chanting we seem to hear the ca- 
dences of the Athenian tragedians, reciting the so- 
norous lines of Aeschylus and Sophocles on the 
Attic stage. 

The interior of a Greek church is very beautiful. 
The sanctuary is separated from the nave by the 
iconostasis, after the manner of the veil of the Jew- 
ish temple, which screened the Holy of Holies. The 



15 

iconostasis is adorned with pictures of Christ, Mary 
and the saints. These sacred icons are regarded 
with the affectionate veneration that gathers around 
a family portrait. Three doors give access to the 
sanctuary. The central is the Royal or holy door, 
furnished with a curtain that is drawn at certain 
points of the service. Within is the Holy Table 
with a tabernacle, like the ancient ark of the cove- 
nant. In the north east corner of the sanctuary is 
the Prothesis or table of preparation. 

There are no pews in a Greek church. The con- 
gregation stands throughout the service. The Julian 
calendar is in use, which differs from our own by 
thirteen days. The Nicene creed is recited in its 
original form without the "filioque." The parish 
priests are married ; bishops are unmarried. Long 
beards and flowing locks are distinguishing marks 
of Greek ecclesiastics. Baptism is by trine immer- 
sion, followed by anointing or chrism. Leavened 
bread, dipped in wine, is placed in the mouth from 
a spoon. 

The service is in the vernacular. The liturgy is 
a dramatic setting forth of spiritual truth, ornate, 
gorgeous, rich in symbolism. Liiagery is the breath 
of the Orient. Religious teaching is pressed home 
by lights, incense, vestments and processions. 

The impressive ceremonial won Russia for the 
Eastern Church. Tradition is that Vladimir sent 
an embassy to investigate the religions of the world. 
When the ambassadors returned with a report of 
the splendor they had witnessed in St. Sophia in 



16 

Constantinople, the scale turned in favor of the 
Byzantine faith. 

The Church of Santa Sophia is the sacred shrine 
of Hellenism. It was built by Justinian in the 
sixth century on the site of an earlier edifice. On its 
completion the emperor exclaimed: "I have sur- 
passed thee, oh Solomon !" It came into the hands 
of the Turks in 1453, when Constantinople fell. It 
gathers to itself the dreams, aspirations, sentiments 
and precious recollections of the past, and every 
Greek fondly hopes for the day when it shall be re- 
stored to the Orthodox Church. 

It is not surprising- that a people so passionately 
devoted to their church should take prompt meas- 
ures to provide the religious ministrations of their 
ancient faith in their new homes. Congregations 
have sprung up rapidly all over the country. I came 
upon a chapel at so remote a town as McGill, Neva- 
da. The Chicago community erected its first build- 
ing on Johnson Street, in 1898. At many points re- 
ligious services are held in temporary quarters. 
Sometimes an existing church has been purchased 
and remodelled. A number of imposing edifices 
have been erected after Byzantine models. The 
churches at Lowell, Mass. ; Canton, O. ; Gary, Ind. ; 
LaSalle Ave., Chicago, and numerous other centers 
are a distinct contribution to American architecture. 
The community of the Annunciation in Manhattan 
found itself in possession of a building erected by 
a Baptist congregation, after the model of a church 
in Sparta. Changes in the neighborhood led the 



17 

original owners to move, and the Greeks secured 
the property. 

From the beginning, the Greek churches in the 
United States were administered in a thorough-go- 
ing, democratic way. Each community made pro- 
vision for its own religious needs, advertised for a 
priest, engaged and dismissed him at will. There 
was no central ecclesiastical authority. The church 
was weak in corporate life. The power was vested 
in laymen, and the priest was distinctly subordinate. 
Here the religious life reproduced ancient ideals. 
Sacerdotalism has ever been alien to the Hellenic 
mind, and the sacerdotal element of religion has 
been in abeyance. 

The congregations found difficulty in securing 
clergy. Priests who came from Greece did not speak 
English and did not readily adjust themselves to 
American life. At Ely, Nevada, there was once a 
flourishing mining colony, but they met many dis- 
couragements in maintaining services. They secured 
a priest but he grew homesick and returned to 
Athens in less than three months, and they gave up 
the attempt to have a resident clergyman and now 
send to Salt Lake City for a priest when need arises. 

In 1918, Meletios, Metropolitan of Athens, came 
to America with a view to effecting better organiza^ 
tion of the churches. He visited the chief centres 
as far west as St. Louis, seeking to introduce order 
and system into the ecclesiastical administration. 
This visit was the first expression of interest on the 
part of the home Church in the religious life of its 



18 

children in America. He remained three months 
and left Bishop Alexander of Rodostolos in charge 
of the churches. But the individualism of the Greeks 
has asserted itself in ecclesiastical affairs and dif- 
ferences over Greek politics have tended to intro- 
duce discord. 

A pleasing aspect of the Greek churches is the 
unfailing loyalty of the adherents. The church of- 
fers an inspiring illustration of male activity, such 
as is almost unknown in any other religious body. 
Male leadership is the normal condition. There is no 
menace of priest craft or clerical domination. The 
laymen are in unquestioned control and vitally in- 
terested in every detail of administration. 

''The scene around a Greek Church on festive 
days," says Roberts, ''is worth witnessing. The 
spirit of worship in these people is a phenomenon 
that cannot be found elsewhere in any community." 

The Epiphany celebration at Tarpon Springs, 
Florida, is one of the famous religious pageants of 
America. It occurs annually on January 19th, when 
commemoration is made of the baptism of Christ. 
In the coast towns of Greece this is celebrated on 
an elaborate scale. The pious Greek believes that 
fair weather follows the blessing of the water and 
steamers often await the ceremony before sailing. 

The gulf coast of Florida lends itself peculiarly 
to this picturesque celebration. The sponge fleet 
hastens into port as the date approaches. Tarpon 
Springs is astir early in the morning. Tourists ar- 
rive by train and motor for the unique occasion. 



19 



The principal street is decorated with Greek and 
American flags. The church service begins early 
and continues three hours concluding when the 
priest blesses a huge basin of water and the congre- 
gation rushes forward to secure some in every sort 
of receptacle, from a cream pitcher to a cocoa-cola 
bottle. Then follows a procession through the 
street led by the priest in his gorgeous robes. Music 
is provided by a local band. The congregation, aug- 
mented by scores of visitors, marches to the bayou 
where boats and launches have assembled. Some of 
them are quaint in construction, painted in bright 
colors with names inscribed in Greek characters : 
"EN OS IS"; "ANDRONIKE"; "FILLAROS"; 
"ARETUSA." Your mind goes back inadvertently 
to Homer's famous catalogue of ships. One boat 
carries a great picture of Venizelos at its mast head. 
The procession halts in front of Tarpon Inn, one of 
the finest hostelries in Flordia. The spacious veranda 
commands a fine view of the celebration. The 
priest advances to a platform at the water's edge. 
He reads in Greek the story of Christ's baptism. At 
the words ''the Spirit descended like a dove and 
lighted upon him," a white dove is unloosed, flut- 
ters for a moment timidly, then soars aloft and 
perches on the roof of Tarpon Inn. After the read- 
ing of the Gospel, the priest speaks a word of greet- 
ing to the men lined up on the boats. Then he 
tosses a small metal cross into the water. Splash ! 
splash! splash! more than a dozen young Greeks 
plunge in after the sacred emblem swimming, snort- 




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ing, puffing, wrestling and turning somersaults to 
the amusement of the onlookers. In a few seconds 
the cross is found. The successful lad comes drip- 
ping to the shore and returns it to the priest amid 
the applause of admiring -friends. The procession 
retraces its way to the church and the afternoon is 
given up to festivity. Lads sell flowers from trays 
along the streets. Tourists visit the Sponge Ex- 
change and watch a good-natured d/iver don his 
equipment — a garment of khaki-colored cloth with 
an interlayer of rubber and a heavy helmet with 
four glass windows and air pump attachment. 

The ceremonies of this day are so unique that they 
have been reproduced in the "movies." The celebra- 
tion, last year, was pictured by the daily press in 
illustrated supplements as far north as Detroit, 
Michigan.. 

Thus so homely a toilet article as the sponge 
awakens a train of psychological associations that 
lead us to Greece and the Greeks, the glory of Mara- 
thon, the splendor of the Byzantine empire, the 
Hellenic immigrant in America and the picturesque 
religious customs and observances of the Orthodox 
Church ! 



22 

Such, in brief, is the story of our Greek immi- 
grants in America. If the physical geography of 
their homeland tended from ancient times to foster 
ctannishness and fixed their historical development 
along the lines of the "City states," isolated one 
from the other and jeealous of local autonomy, so 
also this same environment begot in them a love of 
freedom. The two voices which Wordsworth ac- 
claims as ''liberty's chosen music" belong to Greece 
by geographical right. Hellas is a land of sea and 
mountain, and her children caught the inspiration of 
the landscape which impressed itself on their racial 
character in buoyancy, bold independence, restless 
energy and power of initiative. By tradition and 
temper Greeks are predisposed toward the demo- 
cratic ideals of this country. 

For the past twenty-five years I have followed 
Greek immigration very closely and have come into 
intimate personal touch with several communities. 
The Greeks are in our midst. They have come to 
stay. One-fifth are already naturalized citizens. 
Their children are growing up in our public schools. 
They are bright and learn readily. In every Greek 
community there are men of education, culture, 
wealth and leadership, who enter heartily into 
American life. By reason of their historic love 
of statesmanship they participate actively in civic 
affairs. They are public-spirited and adjust them- 
selves easily to American ways. The Greeks in 
Lynn, Mass., are in active co-operation with pub- 
lic playgrounds and Associated Charities. A num- 



«" 2.0. 



23 

bcr of the Greek priests have acquired the English 
language, and the Hellenic Church is destined to 
exert growing influence as a mighty factor in the 
righteousness of the nation. Dr. Callimahos, the 
Brooklyn priest, is identified with the New^ York 
Federation of Churches. The tendency is toward 
ready co-operation in all that makes for moral, 
religious and civic welfare. 

It w^as my privilege to be associated with Greeks 
m various lines of activity during the war. Again, 
it fell to my lot to act as chairman of the Greek ex- 
hibit committee of "xA^merica's Making." I have 
been brought into touch with adherents of both 
political parties and with the representatives of 
various sections of the Hellenic world — Athens, 
S|)arta, the Dodecanese, Smyrna and Macedonia>. 
My admiration for the Greeks has increased with 
more intimate acquaintance. I find them congenial 
co-workers — generous, courteous, enthusiastic, 
whole-hearted. Inheriting the traditions of the old 
w^orld's first democracy, they bring to our new 
world's democrac}- a kinship of spirit. Their an- 
cestral culture tempers our rudeness. They are one 
with us in heart. The Greek immigrant makes a 
precious contribution to America's greatness and is 
to be counted a valuable asset to .\merican life. 



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